New York

New York is the second most populous Blue State after California. The GOP so unpopular in New York in 2006 that state Republicans are going to great lengths to reduce the salience of their partisan identity. For example, Republican State Senator Nicholas Spano, from Yonkers, does not identify himself as Republican in his campaign literature. Republican New York Attorney General candidate Jeanine Pirro has been trying to attach her name to the popular Democrat in the office, Eliot Spitzer. The Republican gubernatorial candidate John Faso is also avoiding references to his political affiliation. See Yancey Roy. "New York Republicans Running From GOP Label." The Journal News. Sept. 24, 2006 article

Introduction

New York was the 11th state to ratify the Constitution (1788) and is currently the third most populous U.S. state, with nearly 19 million residents. New York has 31 votes in the Electoral College and is considered a safe blue state in national races. Its state political races, however, are still polarized along urban-suburban/rural lines, with upstate and Long Island districts favoring Republicans or other conservatives, and downstate districts (particularly NYC), favoring Democrats.

New York's congressional and legislative districts are perhaps the most heavily gerrymandered in the nation. The State Senate is securely Republican; the Assembly is just as securely Democratic, and short of a SCOTUS ruling finding such gerrymandering unconstitutional, the situation will never change. As a consequence, few seats ever change parties, and if then, only for a term or two. The only real competetion is in the primaries.

The article New York: Running for Office is a guide for candidates and voters. The New York State courts have made the petition process for getting on the ballot almost impossible; even popular shoe-in candidates sometimes get kicked off the ballot.